


The Watcher

by Issay



Series: The Brothers Ri [2]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Character Study, Dwarves, Gen, Rivendell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 19:19:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3084971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Issay/pseuds/Issay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The portrait of Thorin Oakenshield's Company through the eyes of one thief.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Watcher

There is a storm coming.

 

Nori knows storms, he recognizes them by the smell in the air and that strange whisper of the wind. He stops his work – sharpening his knives is a thing that has saved his life multiple times – and for a little while watches clouds flashing silvery just outside Elrond's valley. He knows that the elven magic will stop the rain from falling and Nori nods to himself, finding it to be a perfect example of how much otherworldly and out of touch with reality long-eared folks are. Rivendell is perfectly beautiful, even to him, a dwarf who has no appreciation for garlands of flowers and little shimmering ornaments, trees and waterfalls. But it is full of life and movement, sounds of talks and music. Things that were long forgotten in the gritty, dark lives of homeless dwarves. Rivendell is beautiful because of its inhabitants who have never suffered hunger, winter's cold or sickness that destroys body and soul. For Nori it is like being in another world and the strangeness of it makes it impossible to sleep.

 

So he watches over his sleeping companions, lost in thought and awaiting the distant sound of thunder.

 

Nori knows what Gandalf had meant by telling Thorin that the war is already on the horizon. When most of the company has been in Ered Luin for most of their post-Erebor lives, Nori has been travelling. He is, after all, a thief, joker and killer. He knows dark underbelly of the world, human and dwarven alike. He sees that the darkness is even darker now, that the shadows had taken material shapes and became something more than just scary stories. Nori has seen goblins and wolves, orks and pirates. He has seen lights on marshes, creatures that should not even exist. But they do and now evil is in places it was absent from before, and only tired eyes of Rangers tell how bad it has gotten. Thorin may think that his fairytale adventure is just that – a quest to regain his homeland but Nori knows better.

 

Nori knows that whatever end they will meet, it will be bitter.

 

He sighs with contempt when mountains shake with the storm's fury. Other stir but do not wake, tired dwarves can sleep through anything. Nori smiles fondly, looking at them and thinks it is nice to be the one who watches over their sleep.

Kili and Fili, like children they after all are, fell asleep on one blanket cuddled into each other. The watcher feels a small tug somewhere deep in his chest. He will wake them up before the dawn but no sooner – they feel the safest like that, connected from forehead to toe. Nori has seen the looks other members of company had sent their way, the worried line of Balin's face. It is not their fault that they have been born with one soul split into two bodies. He will wake them up and not judge.

 

Ori has, once again, lost his blanket during a fight with some particularly interesting dream, material pooling around his ankles. Nori's little brother is clutching the book containing portraits of all company members as well as the chronicle of their journey. The thief stands up silently and moves to stand over Ori, thinking how young and out of place he looks among the world weary dwarves.

But so does Dori, on his back in order not to mess his carefully braided beard. Nori reaches out and his fingertips touch white hair, gentler than butterfly's wings. Hid older brother mutters something in his sleep and Nori takes away his hand, ashamed by the sudden tenderness.

Next to the Ri brothers there is that little group inside a group – Ur family with the small addition of Bilbo Baggins. Nori does not really have anything against the hobbit but he is a frail, delicate creature and may not do too well in the wilderness. So Bilbo is another person Nori is worried about – not that it is his obligation but still, he does.

 

Then there is Thorin.

Oakenshield is the one Nori is worried about the most. He is scared for him – but also scared of him because the look on his King's face has been growing more and more manic. Nori knows the signs of gold sickness, he has seen good dwarves succumb to it. And Thorin has the power to seriously hurt the thief and his brothers so for a little while Nori toys with the idea of stealing the Arkenstone and just throwing it away into the deepest mineshaft he can find in whole bloody Erebor. But he will not do it. He knows this.

Thorin is, after all, his king.

 

Without a sound, Nori passes Gloin and Oin, both resting with their hammers close by. Dwalin and Balin, whose blankets are just next to the entrance, are armed too, apparently as trusting in elvish good will as Nori himself.

The thief shrugs and goes back to sitting on a small stone table, back to his knives. He does not need to look in order to know that he is not the only one awake, that distant lightnings flash in Thorin's open eyes.

 

Nori reaches for a knife and resumes sharpening, never stopping his watch.


End file.
